FIRST, Republican state AGs demand out-of-state private medical records to hunt their residents down. NOW, over 50 cities in Texas have made it illegal to use public roads to help someone exit the state to get an abortion. And that’s just the beginning, folks!
On July 19, we published a post warning that HIPAA was not as protective as we thought against the actions of force-birther state attorneys general hunting medical records of those suspected of accessing abortion health care in another state. Now, piling on, over 50 counties in Texas are using their S.B.8 abortion ban’s threat of private civil suits to eliminate travel outside their state for needed care. And other GOP states are looking to copy their model. Just in – Alabama, which has banned almost all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, is now prepared to prosecute those who help a woman travel to another state to obtain a legal abortion for criminal conspiracy.
The right to travel freely in America is a right guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution, with the obvious and odious exception of the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts, which also utilized lawsuits as enforcement. No wonder the GOP wants to destroy the teaching of accurate American history! We have data privacy, “right-to-travel” and abortion rights bills to call your legislators about, and a letter to Joe, but the biggest win will be from kicking every GOP legislator out of their offices!
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 